Before Or After?

Since my trip to New Orleans recently, I've gotten questions regarding how the area is doing. It's been 9 months since Katrina. It's also less than a week before the start of another hurricane season. Are things better? The playground at my nephew's school is no longer full of teachers living in tents. I suppose you can put that in the "things are better" column. However, everywhere you look there are images that would make more sense if it was 9 weeks since Katrina hit as opposed to 9 months. These pictures were taken by my brother-in-law just a month ago.

I tell you I admire all the people that drive past these sights every day and still manage to put one foot in front of the other. It would get to anyone.
The drive between the airport and my parent's house takes you past areas that were some of the worst hit. Much of it was under several feet of water for several days. Those areas are still very much a ghost town. It's all hard to take in but there are specific sights that still give me a pit in my stomach.

1. You see blue tarp roofs everywhere. I actually prefer to see the ones that cover most or all of the roof. The small ones tell me that someone had to try and escape or was hopefully rescued from the small hole under that blue tarp.
2. I still can not check luggage when I fly to New Orleans. The scenes of the baggage claim area at the airport being used as a temporary morgue are burned in my memory.
3. I still choke back tears when I see the spray paint on the houses that tell how many people were found dead or alive by rescuers.

On my first visit after Katrina, I noticed that every event was described as "Before Katrina" or "After Katrina". When people talk about events such as this person moved, that person got another job, this person passed away, so and so had a baby, it's all labeled as "Before Katrina" or "After Katrina". Katrina was not just a hurricane but a point in time from which events are measured.

On this visit, I realized that it's been shortened to just "Before" or "After". The "Katrina" is just understood. I heard two people talking in the airport:
"I've been living in D.C."
"Was that before or after"?

My nephew was telling me about a friend that used to live in his neighborhood. Then he added "but that was before".